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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22751146">The Fire of Family</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverRowan_Ivy630951/pseuds/SilverRowan_Ivy630951'>SilverRowan_Ivy630951</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>A Day in the Life [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Avengers (Marvel Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Captain America Steve Rogers, Comfort No Hurt, Fire, Fluff, Friendly kisses, M/M, POV Steve Rogers, Puppy Piles, Team Bonding, Team as Family, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, surprise campfire</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 10:28:37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,632</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22751146</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverRowan_Ivy630951/pseuds/SilverRowan_Ivy630951</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sneaking around Avengers Tower without getting caught, Steve knew, was somewhat tricky. Especially considering it was filled with Avengers. It seemed to be an unwritten rule of the Tower that anyone who lived there had to have an unusual past, be insanely smart, or have trouble sleeping. Or any combination of the three. </p><p>Steve and Bucky set up a surprise for everyone. Everything goes beautifully.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>James "Bucky" Barnes &amp; Avengers Team, James "Bucky" Barnes &amp; Steve Rogers &amp; Avengers Team, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Jane Foster/Thor, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Steve Rogers &amp; Avengers Team</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>A Day in the Life [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1808131</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>89</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Fire of Family</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>My mind wandered at work. Oops. I'm sure everyone is very upset with me. 🔥😘</p><p>As always, I'm my own beta. Let me know if you see any mistakes.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sneaking around Avengers Tower without getting caught, Steve knew, was somewhat tricky. Especially considering it was filled with Avengers, including two master spies—not counting Bucky because he and Steve were and would always be in it together—and scientists who could and would stay up for days at a time. It seemed to be an unwritten rule of the Tower that anyone who lived there had to have an unusual past, be insanely smart, or have trouble sleeping. Or any combination of the three.</p><p>Suffice it to say, it was not unusual to run into someone, whether it was at noon or midnight.</p><p>The other thing that made sneaking about difficult was Jarvis, Tony’s omnipresent AI butler. It was basically impossible to do anything without him knowing.</p><p>So, first order of business had been to get Jarvis on their side. Instead of figuring out a way to do something without him knowing what they were up to, Steve and Bucky had decided to just get him to help. That way Jarvis wouldn’t feel obligated to inform someone, be it Tony or Pepper, that they were being shifty and they would have a much easier time keeping anyone else from catching them.</p><p>So, with Jarvis’s help, Steve and Bucky snuck a pile of cut wood up to the roof. He’d also proven quite useful in hiding the wood so no one else would find it. Lord only knew what the others would do with it. Tony would probably have it gotten rid of. Natasha would have found some use for it, such as carving the logs down to make wooden stakes just because she could. Clint would probably have burned it—and forgotten to invite them.</p><p>So, Jarvis had helped them hide it in plain sight. Stacking it longways against an out-of-the-way wall, Jarvis instructed them in how to build and set up an identical holographic wall so that the wood basically disappeared.</p><p>When the weather finally grew warm enough, Bucky and Steve bought all the rest of the supplies they would need. With reusable cloth bags—to eliminate the noise of plastic crinkling and to save the Earth, win-win—they, once again, snuck their way through the Tower and up to the roof.</p><p>It was midnight on a perfect night. There was no trouble the Avengers were needed for, no wind blowing, it was decently warm, and there were stars for miles.</p><p>Well practiced from their time in Europe with the Howlies, Steve set up a campfire, stacking the wood in such a way that it would burn the longest.</p><p>Meanwhile, Bucky unpacked the bags and set out their provisions. On a folding card table that they’d hidden beside the wood, he set a large cooler with cold drinks—wine, beer, soda, and water—graham crackers, marshmallows with metal rods to roast them, and chocolate squares—both milk and dark chocolate. There were also various types of fresh fruit and sandwich makings to round things out.</p><p>When they were finished and everything was set up, Steve and Bucky surveyed the roof.</p><p>“Shit!” Steve exclaimed quietly.</p><p>There was just something about the night, about sneaking around without the others knowing, that called for whispers.</p><p>“What?” Bucky asked, bewildered.</p><p>“We forgot something.” Steve made an expansive gesture around them.</p><p>“What? No, everything’s perfect. We didn’t forget anything.”</p><p>“Seating, Buck. We forgot seating.”</p><p>Bucky looked around again then echoed Steve. “Shit.”</p><p>They were quiet for a moment before Steve snapped his fingers.</p><p>“Got it. Come on.” He grabbed Bucky’s prosthetic arm and tugged. “Jarvis,” he called as they paused at the closed door. “Lock up behind us and make sure no one gets up here, please. We’ll be right back.”</p><p>Jarvis agreed, they dashed back to their floor.</p><p>Steve led Bucky to their room and started stripping the blankets off the bed. Getting the idea, Bucky went out to gather their many blankets around the living room and from the hall closet. Neither of them liked to be cold anymore after all their experiences so there were plenty.</p><p>Gathering everything they had, they booked it back to the roof. Either no one was walking about or Jarvis had a hand in making sure they weren’t intercepted because they didn’t see anyone.</p><p>They started laying the blankets out for everyone, making a ring around the unlit campfire.</p><p>“Whoops. Guess we grabbed too many,” Steve said after they’d laid down one for each person and had a lot left over.</p><p>“Nah. Just stack ‘em. Why lay on one blanket when you can lay on three?”</p><p>With that in mind, they decided to double people up. Steve and Bucky would share, of course. Clint and Natasha probably wouldn’t mind, either. Jane and Thor would most likely cuddle, Tony and Bruce could sit together and talk science if they wished, leaving Darcy and Pepper to share. Steve thought they would enjoy some non-science-related talk.</p><p>Unfortunately Sam was out of town for the month. After being sworn to secrecy, he’d declined to come back up to New York but told them all to have fun without him. And to send pictures.</p><p>Looking around again, Bucky muttered a discontented, “No, no. It’s not right. Tonight’s a puppy pile kind of night.” Then his voice raised a few octaves while he pumped his fist half-heartedly in the air. “Yay, team bonding!”</p><p>They gathered up all the blankets again and set about making one giant pile, thick as a mattress. When they were both satisfied with how everything looked, they had Jarvis bring everyone to the roof.</p><p>Natasha was the first to arrive. Surprisingly, she was in fluffy Christmas socks, florid pink pajama pants covered with pugs riding unicorns, and a shirt that read ‘I’m sorry for what I said when you tried to wake me up.’ She also carried a stuffed animal that Steve thought looked like a narwhal.</p><p>She looked around with a coolly raised eyebrow before it settled into a small smile. Coming over to them, she gave both Bucky and Steve quick hugs. Then she went to fill a plate.</p><p>Clint came next. He was dressed in his combat clothes and had his bow and quiver slung over his shoulders. There was a fresh cut above his left eyebrow. When he saw the setup, he let out a long sigh and headed straight for a spot on the blankets. Steve figured he was exhausted from some mission or other since he didn’t even stop at the food table. He put together a plate for Clint and brought it over along with a beer.</p><p>Clint gave him a grateful look and held his arm out. Steve obligingly pulled him up to sitting. Clint didn’t let go of his hand but, instead, called out, “Barnes, mind if I kiss your boy?”</p><p>“Nah, go right ahead,” Bucky called out, amused. “But make sure it’s a good one; we worked hard on this!”</p><p>Steve managed a short chuckle before Clint actually gave him a quick peck on the lips. “Thanks,” he said, quietly serious.</p><p>Looking into his eyes, Steve could see how much it meant. He wrapped his hand around Clint’s calf and gave it a gentle squeeze. “You’re welcome.”</p><p>Setting her plate down, Natasha plopped down beside Clint. Then she leaned over and pecked Steve on the mouth, too. “That goes double for me. Thanks.”</p><p>Steve reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind Natasha’s ear. She let him. “You’re welcome. We thought everyone deserved this and tonight was the perfect night for it.”</p><p>He stood up and went back to the table where Bucky was rearranging things. “It’s fine,” he said quietly, stilling restless hands. Then he just leaned against Bucky and waited.</p><p>Everyone else came out onto the roof as one big group. It was obvious that Thor and Pepper had gone and retrieved Tony, Jane, Bruce, and Darcy from the labs. Darcy looked grateful for the reprieve but the scientists looked a bit put out at being interrupted. They looked annoyed, that is, right up until they realized what exactly they were looking at.</p><p>After a moment to take in the sight of the table full of food and the fire ready to be lit, Darcy squeaked in excitement then turned right around and left. Jane looked up at the stars twinkling above and sighed out a calming breath, her whole body relaxing. Steve could see all tension sliding slowly off of Bruce’s shoulders, too, while he breathed in the calm night air. Pepper and Tony were having some conversation about proper times to sleep instead of work in the lab. Thor just looked around at everything and smiled, quietly happy.</p><p>Steve left Bucky’s side to get the fire going while everyone got plates of food and settled on the blankets.</p><p>Right as the wood caught, Darcy ran back out dressed in Animaniacs pajamas and dinosaur slippers. She also had an armful of blankets that she dumped onto the ground beside everyone. “To cover up with if we want,” she explained. It was a good idea.</p><p>Jarvis kindly dimmed the roof lights until there was only enough of a glow to see where it was safe to step. Soon things fell quiet. Everyone ate and then slowly gravitated into one pile. One by one, they all fell asleep.</p><p>Steve and Bucky silently gathered up the empty plates and covered everyone in blankets.</p><p>Steve took a picture and shot it and a text off to Sam.</p><p>
  <strong>Wish you were here. [avengers.jpg att.]</strong>
</p><p>Then he and Bucky laid down at the edge of the puppy pile and covered themselves with a blanket of their own. Jarvis would watch the fire. For now, they enjoyed the quiet sighs, the occasional soft snore, and cuddling each other in the night.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>For those who are interested, Darcy is wearing Reptar slippers. Steve just didn’t recognize them as anything other than dinosaur slippers. <a href="https://rugrats.fandom.com/wiki/Reptar_(character)">https://rugrats.fandom.com/wiki/Reptar_(character)</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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